Click here to view this media Once again, Ann Coulter proves she’s willing to say just about anything to get herself some attention. On The O’Reilly Factor last night she told Bill-O that radiation is “actually good for you” while downplaying the dangers of the nuclear crisis in Japan. Maybe we can get her to go over there and volunteer for cleanup duty since she doesn’t think it’s that dangerous. Ann Coulter: ‘Radiation is Actually Good For You’ (Video) : On The O’Reilly Factor last night, Coulter spoke about her recent column that cites a number of articles in the New York Times and “a stunning number of physicists” showing radiation has a positive effect on cancer patients. A skeptical O’Reilly retorted Coulter’s evidence with this, “by your account we should all be heading for the nuclear reactor leaking and kind of sunbathing out there in front of — come on.” Coulter responded by citing a study, mentioned by the Times , held in Canada finding that tuberculosis patients subjected to multiple chest X-rays had much lower rates of breast cancer than the general population. “There may be some doses of radiation in the human body can ward off infection,” she said. Joking aside, O’Reilly wanted Coulter to be “responsible” and admit that “some radiation will kill you.” Coulter refused.
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Watching video clips of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan and the aftermath are well, shocking, even to a media-overstimulated world. It almost needs a disclaimer. “These are not disaster-movie special effects. This is real.” For everyone in public life, the reaction should be one of horror and sorrow. But in recent years, the definition of “public life” has expanded dramatically with the rise of social and electronic media. It now includes a class of people that has no class. Dan Turner, the allegedly savvy press secretary for Gov. Haley Barbour, resigned after sending an e-mail news digest with a joke referring to the Otis Redding hit “(Sittin’ on) the Dock of the Bay,” to which he added “Not a big hit in Japan right now.” Idiot. Some found themselves ticketed by the Tweet Police. Those forced to clean up their Twitter mess included rapper 50 Cent, who joked that the earthquake forced him to relocate “all my hoes from L.A., Hawaii and Japan.” He — or more likely his agent — tweeted in apology: “Some of my tweets are ignorant. I do it for shock value.” Alec Sulkin, a writer for the Fox cartoon “Family Guy,” one of Hollywood’s most offensive TV programs, proved just how offensive he could be on Twitter. “If you wanna feel better about this earthquake in Japan, google ‘Pearl Harbor death toll.’” Even he apologized: “Yesterday death toll = 200. Today = 10 thousand. I am sorry for my insensitive tweet. It's gone.” But it was shrill-voiced comedian Gilbert Gottfried that made national news. He was fired Monday as the quacking voice of the duck mascot of insurance giant Aflac after tweeting Japan jokes such as “They don't go to the beach. The beach comes to them.” Since the only thing the Aflac duck says is a quacking “Aflac” in varying degrees of duck distress, most Americans have probably never connected this series of vocal performances to Gottfried. It could also be argued that even with nearly 80,000 Twitter followers, not very many people saw Gottfried’s tweets. But the tasteless tweets are particularly problematic for Aflac. It does 75 percent of its business in Japan. Surely, Gottfried wasn’t expecting the negative repercussions. After all, why wouldn’t he be free to misbehave on Twitter the same way he does on television? Are we to think Twitter has greater standards of decency then does the Idiot Box? Gottfried’s been doing the duck voice since 2000. In 2009, Gottfried appeared on a Joan Rivers roast on Comedy Central and cracked that Robin Quivers, the Howard Stern sidekick, was “proud” of being molested by her father and “won't shut up about it…Oh, the shame that poor man must have felt having to hide the fact that his molestation standards were so low!” Where was Aflac then? The obvious answer is that thousands hadn’t died. Still, that didn’t disturb the sensibilities of anyone in Aflac Land? Predictably, some of Gottfried’s tasteless-comedian pals aren’t coming to his defense. Gottfried removed his Twitter jokes, but has since posted comedian Lisa Lampanelli joking, “Some said ‘too soon’ but in his defense, Tokyo IS 13 hrs ahead of us!” Does anyone think Gottfried isn’t already returning to form? Gottfried posted this to his Twitter followers. “Been reading your tweets. More than a few of you have said, ‘F— 'em if they can't take a joke.’ Yup, those are true Gilbert Gottfried fans.” Does this sound like a man apologetic for his actions? On ABC’s “The View,” Joy Behar won the prize for the most ridiculous Gottfried defense. When Sherri Shepherd asked who in Japan was feeling better for these mean-spirited jokes, Behar replied: “Maybe people who just need relief from the terror of it all. I don't know, but I mean, I'm sure people in concentration camps made jokes about each other, about the Nazis, about their situation. That's the way people relieve stress.” Don’t feel too bad for Gottfried, and don’t applaud Aflac, either. He has a new book coming out in April with the transgender-joke title “Rubber Balls and Liquor.” Publishers Weekly promises “[Oral sex] and masturbation jokes punctuate a mix of memoir, angst-ridden anecdotes, and observational humor…and his fans will eagerly skip ahead to a chapter titled ‘Too Soon’ about his now famous Friars Club performance two weeks after 9/11.” That’s when he made a joke about a direct flight into the Empire State Building. Thousands died in New York, too – but apparently not enough thousands for Aflac to fire him back then. Or was it just that the dead were Americans?
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I usually love filling out official forms, but the questions on the new census seem designed to do our heads in. It must be some kind of government conspiracy, I tell you Now, I must be honest with you and confess that there is usually absolutely nothing in
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The former US secretary of state helped bring peace to Bosnia, tried to achieve a Middle East settlement and railed against nuclear weapons The former US secretary of state Warren Christopher, who helped bring peace to Bosnia and negotiated for the release of American hostages in Iran, has died at the age of 85. Sonja Steptoe of the law firm O’Melveny & Myers, where Christopher was a senior partner, said Christopher died at his home in Los Angeles on Friday due to complications from bladder and kidney cancer. As the top American statesman under Bill Clinton, Christopher was a behind-the-scenes negotiator. Often called the “stealth” secretary of state, Christopher was known for his understated, self-effacing manner. He had taken the job in January 1993 at the age of 68 and clocked up 704,487 air miles travelling the world. A loyal Democrat and meticulous lawyer, Christopher told the Associated Press his proudest accomplishments included a role in promoting a ban on nuclear weapons tests and the extension of curbs on the proliferation of weapons technology. He also tried to promote peace in the Middle East, tirelessly travelling to the region. Christopher made more than 20 trips to Syria alone in a futile effort to promote a settlement with Israel. He was more successful in the negotiations that produced a settlement in 1995 for Bosnia, ending a war among Muslims, Serbs and Croats that claimed 260,000 lives and drove 1.8 million people from their homes. However, some critics said the administration had moved too slowly against the ethnic violence. Christopher gave top priority to supporting reform in Russia and expanding US economic ties to Asia and supervised the contested Florida recount for Al Gore after the 2000 presidential election, While Christopher often preferred a role out of the spotlight, he made news as deputy secretary of state in President Jimmy Carter’s administration, conducting the tedious negotiations that gained the release in 1981 of 52 American hostages in Iran. Carter awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian award. “The best public servant I ever knew,” Carter wrote in his memoirs. Christopher chaired a commission that proposed reforms of the Los Angeles police department in the aftermath of the videotaped beating by police of motorist Rodney King in 1991. President Bill Clinton said at the time of Christopher’s resignation from the White House that he “left the mark of his hand on history.” As Clinton considered a successor, Christopher offered the criteria he would apply if the choice was up to him. “It would be somebody who has the capacity to provide forceful leadership, someone who has great tenacity, someone who has endurance and a lot of stamina,” he said. Christopher overcame sleep deprivation, difficult negotiations with the likes of the late Syrian president Hafez Assad and nagging ulcers to keep his eye on American interests. Always crisp, modest and polite, he drove home an agreement in his last year on the job to halt fighting in Lebanon between Israel and extremist Shi’ite guerrillas. “We have achieved the goal of our mission, which was to achieve an agreement that will save lives and end the suffering of people on both sides of the Israeli-Lebanese border,” Christopher said in Jerusalem after his successful week-long mission. Madeleine Albright stepped in for Clinton’s second term and Christopher returned to his law firm of O’Melveny & Myers with Clinton’s “deep gratitude” for his service and with the president’s playful description of Christopher as “the only man ever to eat M&Ms on Air Force One with a fork”. Although critics complained that the Clinton administration’s foreign policy lacked dramatic initiatives, the poised and cautious Christopher indicated he was pleased with the results, especially with what he called the “triple play” of a Nafta trade agreement with Canada and Mexico, the expansion of US economic ties to Pacific Rim nations and the Gatt accord on international tariffs and trade. “Taking it overall, we’ve done very well on the major issues,” he said at a news conference in 1993, during which he also cited US support for economic and political reform in Russia and the “partnership for peace” proposal to expand the involvement of former Communist adversaries in Nato. Christopher looked back with gratitude on how far he had come from a childhood in Scranton, North Dakota, marked by bitter winters and modest circumstances. His father was a bank cashier who fell ill, and the family moved to southern California during the Depression. After his father’s death, his mother supported the family of five children as a sales clerk. An ensign in the US navy reserves, he was called up to active duty during the second world war and served in the Pacific. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Southern California in 1945 and, after attending Stanford Law School, served as a clerk to supreme court justice William O Douglas in 1949 and 1950. In the late 1960s, he was a deputy attorney general in the administration of Lyndon Johnson. In 2008, Christopher was co-chairman of a bipartisan panel that studied the recurring question of who, under US law, should decide when the country goes to war. It proposed that the president be required to inform congress of any plans to engage in “significant armed conflict” lasting longer than a week. As a successful Los Angeles lawyer, Christopher had a seven-figure income and a beach house in fashionable Santa Barbara. He is survived by his wife Marie, and had four children in two marriages: Lynn, Scott, Thomas, and Kristen. United States Bill Clinton US foreign policy guardian.co.uk
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• Rebel jet shot down over Benghazi • Shelling of rebel stronghold continues • Leaders meeting to put no-fly zone into force • Read the latest summary of today’s events • Read our latest news story on Libya 11.29am: Pro-Gaddafi snipers have killed two people in Misrata, Reuters reports. A resident, called Saadoun, told the news agency: “We have two people dead this morning … because there are snipers on some houses and they are shooting people, they are shooting whoever they see.” 11.26am: More on the situation in Benghazi where Gaddafi’s troops have entered the city and are fighting rebel forces. One witness told Reuters they saw a blast near the rebel national council building that was barricaded by concrete blocks. Six 4×4 pick-ups mounted with machine guns were moved to the Benghazi seafront. But the relatively light arms of rebel forces have proved a poor match for Gaddafi’s heavy firepower. Standing next to his Benghazi home, Hassan Marouf, 58, said: “Europe and America have sold us out. We have been hearing bombing all night, and they have been doing nothing. Why?” “We have no one to help us but God. Us men are not afraid to die, but I have women and children inside and they are crying and in tears. help us,” he said. 11.00am: Pro-Gaddafi forces have fired four or five artillery shells at the Misrata but remain on the outskirts of the rebel-held city, a resident has told Reuters: “They [Gaddafi's forces] bombed the town with four or five artillery shells in the early hours today. The situation is relatively calm now. But they are still on the outskirts of the town, and water to Misrata is still cut off.” A doctor in the city, Libya’s third largest, earlier told AP that it came under sustained assault well after the announcement of a cease-fire by Gaddafi’s regime. The doctor said Gaddafi’s snipers were on rooftops and his forces were searching homes for rebels. He had counted 25 dead since Friday morning: “The shelling is continuing, and they are using flashlights to perform surgery. We don’t have anesthetic to put our patients down.” 10.51am: A rebel leader in Benghazi has appealed to the international community to stop the bombardment of the city by Gaddafi’s forces. Mustafa Abdul Jalil told Al Jazeera television: “Now there is a bombardment by artillery and rockets on all districts of Benghazi. There will be a catastrophe if the international community does not implement the resolutions of the UN security council. “We appeal to the international community, to the all the free world, to stop this tyranny from exterminating civilians.” Another rebel spokesman, Khalid al-Sayeh, told Reuters that Gaddafi’s forces had “entered Benghazi from the west”: “Where are the Western powers? They said they could strike within hours.” 10.35am: AP has more details of the letters Gaddafi has sent to the UN and the US. In the letter to France, the UK and the UN secretary general, he claimed the UN resolution authorising international military intervention in Libya was “invalid” and they would “regret” enforcing it. “Libya is not for you, Libya is for the Libyans,” he wrote. In the other letter, sent to US President Barack Obama, Gaddafi defended his decision to attack rebel cities: “If you found them taking over American cities by the force of arms, tell me what you would do.” 10.29am: Gaddafi has again warned against military intervention in Libya, describing any such act as “clear aggression”, Reuters reports. “This is injustice, this is clear aggression. You will regret it if you take a step towards interfering in our internal affairs,” Gaddafi wrote in a letter to France, Britain and the United Nations, according to a spokesman for his regime. The spokesman, Mussa Ibrahim, also said Gaddafi had warned the US in a separate letter that he and all Libyans were “prepared to die” to defend the country. 10.19am: Here’s an interview with Chris McGreal about the fighting in Benghazi, including the shooting down of a fighter jet, which “the rebels now concede it was their only plane”. He adds there is currently “sporadic but fairly intense fighting” in the south west of the city where Gaddafi’s forces have broken through. There are also reports of fighting in the north of the city. 9.45am: My colleague Chris McGreal has just called in from Benghazi about the plane shot down over the city: “Some of the rebels say it’s their plane. It might have been their only plane that was shot down by Gaddafi’s forces.” He has been down to the frontline of the fighting in the south west of the city where Gaddafi’s forces have seized control of the university. We’ll have more details on this soon. 9.30am: Gaddafi’s propaganda war continues on Saturday with the Libyan state news agency claiming his forces are under attack by “al-Qaida gangs” near Benghazi. The Jana news agency report, which contradicts other media reports showing pro-Gaddafi forces attacking the rebel stronghold, states: “Al-Qaida gangs are attacking units of the armed forces which are stationary west of Benghazi.” It is worth noting that pro-Gaddafi officials describe all the rebels as belonging to al-Qaida. 9.16am: This is David Batty, I’ll be taking over the live blog until Saturday evening. AP has more on the fighter plane shot down in Benghazi. One of its reporters saw the plane “go down in flames and heard the sound of artillery and crackling gunfire in the distance”: The fighting galvanized the people of Benghazi, with young men collecting bottles to make Molotov cocktails. Some residents dragged bed frames and metal scraps into the streets to make roadblocks. “Where is France, where is Nato?” cried a 50-year-old woman in Benghazi. “It’s too late.” Government spokesman Ibrahim Musa denied that a government plane had gone down. He also denied government forces shelled any Libyan towns on Saturday, saying the rebels are the ones breaking the cease fire by attacking military forces. “Our armed forces continue to retreat and hide, but the rebels keep shelling us and provoking us,” Musa told AP. 8.57am: Hello, this is Warren Murray opening our latest live blog coverage of Libya, where clashes are continuing despite the regime declaring a ceasefire under threat of a no-fly zone backed by the UN. Overnight there were patchy reports of shelling and explosions around Benghazi and the situation ramped up significantly with confirmation that a fighter plane has been shot down over the city. Here’s a summary of the latest developments: • A fighter plane has been shot down over Benghazi. Video and photos showed the jet flying over the city, then bursting into flames and plunging into the suburbs, with the pilot apparently ejecting. • Loud explosions have been heard in the opposition stronghold , with those on the ground saying government forces have been shelling the rebels. Rebels said they had been forced to pull back as Libyan jets bombed the road to Benghazi airport and the city’s outskirts. • In response the Libyan regime has denied any involvement , saying its entire air force has been grounded and it is respecting its self-imposed ceasefire. • The next stage of the international response is to be co-ordinated at an emergency conference in Paris within a few hours . David Cameron, Nicolas Sarkozy, Hillary Clinton and Arab leaders are among those gathering to give final approval for a no-fly zone. There is a sense that jets will be streaking out to Libya as soon as the group gives the nod. We’ll have all the latest news as it develops. Libya Muammar Gaddafi US foreign policy United Nations Arab and Middle East protests Middle East Warren Murray David Batty guardian.co.uk
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Prince meets people of Queensland towns devastated by cyclone Yasi Prince William has visited two towns in far north Queensland devastated by cyclone Yasi last month. Hundreds of wellwishers cheered and waved as his Blackhawk helicopter touched down in the small coastal community of Cardwell, 200km (125 miles) south of Cairns, where many properties are still without roofs. “I can’t believe we watched him grow up and here he is,” one excited onlooker told local media. In stifling 30-degree heat and with no hat, the prince shook hands as sweat poured off his brow. “I’m suffering with my English pasty white skin,” he is reported to have told the crowd. Inside the Cardwell community hall, the prince had lunch with emergency service personnel and volunteers. He spent several minutes chatting to 102-year-old Betty Evans as she sat in her wheelchair clutching a card from the Queen for her 100th birthday. Queensland premier Anna Bligh, who was travelling with Prince William, thanked him for his visit to the state. “It’s clear that the prince is a real people person,” she said. “He has plenty of compassion and you can’t get too much of that here right now. I’ve never seen smiles like this since the cyclone came through.” Before the visit, Bligh had said she hoped the occasion would be a signal that Queensland was open for business. The tourism industry in particular has been hard hit since cyclone Yasi and January’s devastating floods. The prince also visited the nearby town of Tully where half the population of 5,000 turned out to greet him. “This is a very small town and for a prince to come here and show his concern will give us a tremendous lift,” said police sergeant Mike Baily. On Saturday night, Prince William attended an invitation-only dinner in Cairns with community members and volunteers. On Sunday, he will visit flood-affected areas in south-east Queensland, including Toowoomba and Grantham which were both hit by what police described at the time as an “inland tsunami”. On Monday, he will be in the state of Victoria to visit more flood-affected areas. Prince William Monarchy Australia Natural disasters and extreme weather Alison Rourke guardian.co.uk
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Food scare comes as engineers battle to cool dangerously overheated fuel at Fukushima power plant and evacuation of Britons is stepped up Japan has reported elevated radiation levels in spinach and milk from farms near the crippled Fukushima nuclear power station. The tainted milk was found 30km (20 miles) from the plant while the spinach was collected up to 100km (65 miles) to the south. Chief cabinet secretary Yukio Edano told reporters in Tokyo that the radiation levels exceeded the limits allowed by the government, but the products “pose no immediate health risk” and testing was being done on other foods. If tests show further contamination, Edano said food shipments would be halted from the area. “It’s not like if you ate it right away you would be harmed,” Edano said. “It would not be good to continue to eat it for some time.” Edano said the amount of radiation detected in the milk was the equivalent to one CT scan – the series of X-rays used for medical tests – if consumed continually for a year. Low levels of radiation have been detected well beyond Tokyo, which is 220km south of the plant, but hazardous levels have been limited to the plant itself. The food scare is the latest consequence of the cascade of disasters unleashed by the earthquake on 11 March. Emergency teams scrambled on Saturday to restore power to the Fukushima plant so it could cool dangerously overheated fuel. Firefighters pumped tons of water directly from the ocean into the cooling pool for used fuel rods at the plant’s unit 3. The rods are at risk of burning up and sending a broad release of radioactive material into the environment. Just outside the bustling disaster response centre in the city of Fukushima, 60km north-west of the plant, government nuclear specialist Kazuya Konno was able to take only a three-minute break for his first meeting with his wife Junko and their children since the earthquake. “It’s very nervewracking. We really don’t know what is going to become of our city,” Junko told Associated Press. “Like most other people, we have been staying indoors unless we have to go out.” She brought her husband a small backpack with a change of clothes and snacks. The girls, aged four and six and wearing pink surgical masks decorated with Mickey Mouse, gave their father hugs. In his latest ministerial update from Tokyo, Edano said: “The situation at the nuclear complex still remains unpredictable. But at least we are preventing things from deteriorating.” A fire truck with a high-pressure cannon parked outside the plant’s unit 3 began shooting a continuous arc of water nonstop into the pool for seven hours. Because of high radiation levels, firefighters will only go to the truck every three hours when it needs to be refueled. They expect to pump about 1,400 tons of water, nearly the capacity of the pool. Hidehiko Nishiyama of Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said backup power systems at the plant had been improperly protected, leaving them vulnerable to the tsunami that ravaged the north-eastern coast of Japale. The failure enabled uranium fuel to overheat and was a “main cause” of the crisis, Nishiyama said. “I cannot say whether it was a human error, but we should examine the case closely.” A spokesman for Tokyo Electric, which owns and runs the complex, said it was protected against tsunamis of up to five metres (16ft) but a six-metre wave of water struck Fukushima on 11 March. Plant operators said they would reconnect four of the plant’s six reactor units to a power grid on Saturday. Workers have to methodically work through badly damaged and deeply complex electrical systems to make the final linkups without setting off a spark and potentially an explosion. “Most of the motors and switchboards were submerged by the tsunami and they cannot be used,” Nishiyama said. Even once the power is reconnected, it is not clear if the cooling systems will still work. The storage pools need a constant source of cooling water. Even when removed from reactors, uranium rods are still extremely hot and must be cooled for months, possibly longer, to prevent them from heating up again and emitting radioactivity. Meanwhile, some Britons in the country have begun their journey back to the UK to escape from radiation fears, power shortages, business closures and a lack of food in shops. Buses and planes ferried people to safety on Friday, with 24 British nationals leaving tsunami-flattened Sendai on two coaches heading for Tokyo. The Foreign Office block-booked seats for Britons wanting to fly home on commercial flights, the first of which was a Cathay Pacific flight to Hong Kong, and said two other flights to Hong Kong would be made available on Saturday. Those directly affected by last week’s devastating earthquake and tsunami can fly free of charge, but people wishing to leave Japan who have not been directly affected will pay about £600 per seat. Japan disaster Japan Energy Nuclear power guardian.co.uk
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Understated negotiator Warren Christopher mediated in Bosnia and helped end Iran hostage crisis The former US secretary of state Warren Christopher, who helped bring peace to Bosnia and negotiated for the release of American hostages in Iran, has died, CNN reported. He was 85. CNN said Christopher died in California of complications from kidney and bladder cancer. As the top American statesman under Bill Clinton, Christopher was a behind-the-scenes negotiator. Often called the “stealth” secretary of state, Christopher was known for his understated, self-effacing manner. United States US foreign policy Bill Clinton guardian.co.uk
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Abhisit Vejjajiva backed by 52% in parliamentary vote over claims of government corruption and mismanagement Thailand’s prime minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva, has narrowly survived a parliamentary no-confidence vote, ensuring his government remains in office in the run-up to what is likely to be a close election. Abhisit was backed by 249 parliamentarians, making up 52% of the eligible house voters, in a censure motion after four days of debate marked by allegations of corruption, mismanagement and conflicts of interest levelled at him and nine of his ministers. The number of votes against Abhisit could reflect some dissatisfaction within the six-party coalition that his Democrat party heads with a slim majority. Analysts say the parliamentary election is expected to be a close race between Abhisit’s Democrats and the opposition Puea Thai party, and Abhisit would probably need to form another coalition to govern again. All nine ministers survived no-confidence votes but by narrow margins. Several received less support than the prime minister. The censure was conducted as a free vote, meaning not all votes may have been cast along party lines. Thailand remains embroiled in a five-year-old political crisis characterised by violent demonstrations, lengthy blockades, disputed judicial rulings and military intervention. Investors are hoping the election will lead to greater stability. But analysts warn there is scope for foul play or challenges to the outcome from either side that could lead to renewed street protests or even a coup. The election will be the first real test of Abhisit’s public support. He came to power in late 2008 in a parliamentary vote that critics say was influenced heavily by the army leadership. Abhisit believes his party has the edge over Puea Thai, which is backed by the ousted former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who retains considerable influence over Thai politics. Thaksin remains in exile to evade a two-year jail term for corruption. Abhisit and his government are accused by Puea Thai of helping certain companies win concessions for third-generation mobile phone services and transport projects as well as mismanagement and irregularities in a food price crisis. Opponents also accuse the government of being responsible for the deaths of anti-government “red shirt” demonstrators during clashes with the army last year. The government has rejected all the claims. Thailand guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Abhisit Vejjajiva backed by 52% in parliamentary vote over claims of government corruption and mismanagement Thailand’s prime minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva, has narrowly survived a parliamentary no-confidence vote, ensuring his government remains in office in the run-up to what is likely to be a close election. Abhisit was backed by 249 parliamentarians, making up 52% of the eligible house voters, in a censure motion after four days of debate marked by allegations of corruption, mismanagement and conflicts of interest levelled at him and nine of his ministers. The number of votes against Abhisit could reflect some dissatisfaction within the six-party coalition that his Democrat party heads with a slim majority. Analysts say the parliamentary election is expected to be a close race between Abhisit’s Democrats and the opposition Puea Thai party, and Abhisit would probably need to form another coalition to govern again. All nine ministers survived no-confidence votes but by narrow margins. Several received less support than the prime minister. The censure was conducted as a free vote, meaning not all votes may have been cast along party lines. Thailand remains embroiled in a five-year-old political crisis characterised by violent demonstrations, lengthy blockades, disputed judicial rulings and military intervention. Investors are hoping the election will lead to greater stability. But analysts warn there is scope for foul play or challenges to the outcome from either side that could lead to renewed street protests or even a coup. The election will be the first real test of Abhisit’s public support. He came to power in late 2008 in a parliamentary vote that critics say was influenced heavily by the army leadership. Abhisit believes his party has the edge over Puea Thai, which is backed by the ousted former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who retains considerable influence over Thai politics. Thaksin remains in exile to evade a two-year jail term for corruption. Abhisit and his government are accused by Puea Thai of helping certain companies win concessions for third-generation mobile phone services and transport projects as well as mismanagement and irregularities in a food price crisis. Opponents also accuse the government of being responsible for the deaths of anti-government “red shirt” demonstrators during clashes with the army last year. The government has rejected all the claims. Thailand guardian.co.uk
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